MAJOR ROBERT ROSIE ROSENTHAL - 100TH BG COURAGE UNDER FIRE As an undergraduate at Brooklyn College, before going on to get his law degree at Brooklyn Law School, Rosenthal had been captain of the football and the baseball teams. On December 8, 1941, the day after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into the war, Rosenthal, who was then working at a Manhattan law firm, volunteered for the U.S. Army. He asked for a combat assignment. Rosenthal was trained as a pilot and assigned to fly a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber with the 8th Air Force 100th Bomb Group, which was stationed in East Anglia, England. By early 1945, Rosenthal had extended his overseas service once, been shot down once and had made a forced landing another time. Radioman Saul Levitt later described to an interviewer the “Rosenthal legend,” which he said was “made up of the following ingredients: that he could have stopped flying and he couldn’t get killed.” He flew 52 missions over Germany as a bomber pilot, twice survived being shot down and won 16 decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism.” On one mission, his B-17 Flying Fortress was the only one in his group of 13 to return. On another, he was shot down and broke his right arm and nose. The next time he was shot down, he broke the same arm. On Feb. 3, 1945, Rosie, as he was known, led the entire Third Division, an armada of 1,000 B-17s, on a raid on Berlin. German flak and a direct hit from a ground fired rocket just before bombs away severely damaged his B-17 and killed their navigator. Rosenthal left their formation and turned east for relative safety behind Soviet lines. Approximately 20 miles east of Berlin, Rosenthal gave the order to bail out while he struggled to keep the crippled B-17 airborne. Rosenthal, the last to bail out, barely escaped the aircraft when it spun out of control as he left the flight deck. Four of the crew landed behind German lines, one of whom was lynched by German civilians and the remainder captured. Rosenthal broke his arm upon landing but had luckily just made it to Soviet-held territory. He soon encountered three soldiers who approached him aggressively. Noticing the red star on their hats, he retrieved an American flag from his escape kit and began yelling Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Lucky Strike, Coca Cola, bombing Berlin. The Soviet soldiers then recognized him as an American, hugged him and transported him to a Soviet field hospital for medical treatment. Rosenthal and several others of the crew who had also landed behind Soviet lines were billeted with Polish families as they were slowly transported east by Soviet authorities. In one Polish village they were housed with the town mayor who quickly ran out of food providing for the American guests. At the mayors request, Rosenthal intervened with the local Soviet area commander for more food for the family. As Rosenthal met with the Soviet general, their translator bowed to the general during each translation and his rear end hit Rosenthal and pushed him back. By the third encounter with the translators rear end, Rosenthal had enough and booted him onto the generals desk. The general broke into laughter and said Ah, Americanski! and authorized the needed food. The Soviets eventually flew Rosenthals small group to Moscow. They arrived there on 19 February 1945 and met Ambassador Averell Harriman. Rosenthal cabled his family, who had been notified that he had been killed, and phoned the 100th asking them to save a squadron for him. While in Moscow, one of their crew had to be restrained from attacking the Japanese ambassador when they encountered him at the opera. After five days in Moscow they went by train to Eastern Command Headquarters at Poltava to begin their journey back to Thorpe Abbotts. The rest of Major Rosenthals crew included: 1st Lt. Louis Chappell (KIA); 1st Lt. Eugene Lockhart (murdered by German civilians); 1st. Lt. Arthur Jacobson (POW); T/Sgt Dugger West (POW); S/Sgt Warren Winters (POW); Capt. John Ernst (RTD, leg amputated); 1st Lt. Robert Stropp (RTD); 1st Lt. Stewart Gillison (RTD); T/Sgt. Charles Weber (RTD); S/Sgt. George Windisch (RTD). Robert Rosenthal passed away in 2007 at the age of 89.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 12:48:24 +0000
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